Quite frequent, a railway car must be jacked so that those damaged coil springs of the car truck suspension may be replaced or repaired. At the same time, this lifting operation allows an inspection of the axle bearings and/or re-packing and reviewing of journal biasses. The present method of lifting the bolster of a freight car consists in sliding a steel bar inside the bolster with one end extending outside sufficiently so that it may be used as a bearing point for the head of a ratchet lever jack, by means of which the bolster is lifted. If the freight car is loaded, one or more additional jacks of higher capacity (such as air power jacks) must be used to lift the load. This is required because the ratchet lever jack is of insufficient capacity to lift alone the load of the car; furthermore, the lever action of the steel bar on the bolster damages it and the load on the opposite side of the bolster tilts the truck. On occasion, the steel bar inserted in the bolster bends the upper wall of the bolster thereby reducing the clearance and rendering impossible removal and replacement of damaged coil springs. Furthermore, such method represents a safety hazard as a result of the foot of the lever jack laying either on ballasts or on the edge of a track tie in an unstable condition. Also, lifting a loaded car with air powered jacks is a long and laborious operation and can only be carried out at repair centers equipped with compressed air units.